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Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground	By : cousinjean Category: AtS/BtVS Crossovers > Het - Male/Female > Buffy/Spike(William) > Buffy/Spike(William) Views: 2581 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) or Angel, the Series (AtS); nor any of the characters from them. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Dead Leaves & the Dirty Ground

by cousinjean

Chapter Seven -- Fell In Love With a Girl

RATING: R
PREVIOUSLY: Vamp!Buffy kidnapped Spike and had her way with him. And not in the fun way.

A/N: And we're back to the White Stripes.

~*~

Wesley chucked a crossbow onto the small pile of weaponry that wanted repairing. He'd been going through the weapons cache since the others had left, taking inventory and seeing which could be used immediately, if necessary. If worse came to worst, they would need more stakes.

He picked up another crossbow and inspected the strings, checked the firing mechanism. The front door opened, but he didn't look up. It was too soon to be the others. Too soon to be anybody else. He loaded a bolt into the shaft.

"Aren't you even a little bit glad to see me?" she asked.

Calmly, he looked up and took aim at her heart. "Seeing you again has apparently cost me a friend and colleague. And now I must prepare to put a stake through the heart of my former prot�g�. Convince me it was worth it."

"Happy to." Lilah's eyes fell to the crossbow. "I'm guessing that's involved in whatever you've got in mind? 'Cause you know it won't kill me." She smirked. "That's new for you, Lover, but hey, I'm open to experimentation."

He lowered the weapon, and with a sigh, tossed it on the good pile. "You knew, didn't you? What would happen?"

Her smirk melted into a sympathetic smile. "I knew about the time difference. That whatever Spike brought back, it wouldn't be Buffy."

He stared at her disbelievingly, even as he chastised himself for not knowing better. "You bitch."

"Well, hey." Lilah shrugged. "It's not like I've been living in Hell because I'm a good person. Unlike your little Slayer, there was nothing accidental about my going there."

Wesley closed his eyes and hung his head. "Lilah�"

"Anyway," she said, heels clicking on tile as she came toward him, "it's not like you could've stopped him. We both know he would have figured it out on his own, eventually. All the Senior Partners did was give him a nudge to speed up the process."

"You mean you. All you did."

"I fulfilled my contractual obligation to my employers." She traced a finger down the side of his face, coaxing him to look at her. "And if doing my job includes some personal fringe benefits, who am I to complain?" Her thumb ran back and forth over his lips, a delicate precursor to her more insistent mouth. Wesley returned her kiss in spite of himself, but he summoned enough willpower to shove her away and into the counter.

"Damn you, Lilah."

She smiled, challenging him. "Too late."

Then his mouth was on hers again, hands tugging her skirt up as her leg hooked over his hip. He was vaguely aware of the sound of weapons clattering to the floor as they took over the counter. Through it all, Wesley couldn't escape one thought:

It was he who was damned.

***

They filed into the Hyperion one by one. Xander entered last, right behind Dawn. Hovering over her was more like it, and he knew he was hovering but he didn't care. She needed someone to hover. God, she moved like a zombie. They all did. None of them could believe this was happening. That Buffy�

Anyway. He needed to hover.

But then Fred came over and put an arm around Dawn and led her off to the bathroom to help her clean up, and Xander was left alone. He looked around the lobby, desperate for something to focus on or do. Everybody else already had something. Wesley sat on the round sofa, carving stakes, so intent on the job that he hadn't even bothered to greet them. Gunn and Lorne had already been sent out to give a heads up to the few contacts they still had who knew about this sort of thing, asking them to keep a look out. Angel was being Action Guy, as usual, pacing the lobby and barking orders into his cell phone, using words like "containment" and "perimeter." He sounded like Riley. Xander started to laugh at that, but then he just wished that Riley were there. He could help. Right now they needed all the help they could get.

Like Willow. He should call her. That's what he could do. He pulled out his cell, but couldn't bring himself to dial. What the hell would he say to her? How could he tell her something like this over the phone?

Before he could figure that out, Dawn emerged from the bathroom and took a seat at the table back behind the counter. Fred came out behind her. She went to the mini--fridge and pulled out an ice pack, but stopped to frown at a pile of weapons at the end of the bar.

"We had that many broken crossbows?" She looked expectantly at Wesley, but he just kept whittling. Whether he was ignoring her or didn't hear her was anybody's guess.

Finally, Fred shrugged, and turned toward Dawn. Xander ran over to her. "Let me," he said, holding out his hand for the ice pack.

Fred smiled. "Sure," she said, handing it over. Then she went to join Wesley.

Dawn slumped forward with her elbow on the table, her forehead propped against her hand. "Here," said Xander, gingerly placing the ice pack against her swollen cheek.

"Thanks," she said numbly as she held it in place.

Xander pulled out a chair and sat down, trying to think of something comforting to say. But he had nothing.

Dawn beat him to the punch. "Spike's dead."

Xander stared at her, taken aback by her certainty. He shook his head. "We don't know that."

"I do." The hand that held the icepack fell to her lap. "He couldn't stake her, so she killed him." She shrugged. "Maybe she turned him. But either way." She looked up at Xander, the tear tracks on her cheeks glittering in the lamplight. "He's dead. And he was all I had left."

"No." Xander left his chair and dropped to his knees beside her. "You have me, Dawnie." He took her hand and squeezed it. "You'll always have me."

She nodded. "Right. Sure. Until I get you killed, too."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"It's my fault, Xander. I killed Spike. I brought that� that thing back from hell, and now he's gone."

"No. That's not--"

"He couldn't have done it without me. He needed the Key to open the portal."

"Dawn, listen to me." He took her chin and gently forced her to look at him. "You were only trying to� I mean, if anybody blames you for trying to save your sister, you have 'em come talk to me, okay? Spike knew the risks. He� and we don't know that he's dead. He can take care of himself. But whatever happens, it is not your fault."

Her face crumpled, and she started sobbing uncontrollably. Xander pulled her into a hug, rocking her and stroking her hair as she cried. "Don't do this to yourself, Dawn. This isn't your fault."

"No." Wesley put down his knife and stake, and stood up. "It's mine."

Xander looked up. "What're you�"

But he trailed off as a woman appeared at the top of the stairs. "Well, that was bracing," she said, untucking her hair from her shirt as she came down. "Y'know, Wes, I understand your boss knows the value of a buck, but you'd think that with all of the resources at his disposal he could lighten up on little things like the water bill. It's not like he needs to take all those cold showers anym--" She looked around, apparently noticing the rest of them for the first time. "Well, well. Gang's all here." She smiled cheerily and waved.

Fred stood up from the couch and put several feet between her and Wesley, looking at him with disappointment. Wesley's eyes worked on boring a hole through the floor as the new woman sauntered over to stand beside him.

"I gotta go. Call me if you hear anything," said Angel, and snapped his phone shut. "Lilah. Why do I get the feeling you're behind all this?"

Lilah shrugged. "Because despite all appearances you don't have the intellect of a Neanderthal?"

"What did you do?"

"I just handed Spike some info. Helped him acquire some spell ingredients. The rest was all up to him."

Dawn stopped crying and pulled away from Xander. "You gave him that file," she said, standing up. "The one that said he had to use the Key."

Lilah looked her up and down. "You must be the sister." She smiled and moved toward Dawn, extending her hand. "I'm Lilah Morgan."

Dawn just looked at her outstretched hand, and took a step back. Xander put a protective arm around her shoulders. Something about that woman reminded him of a shark.

"Why?" asked Angel.

Lilah rolled her eyes. "Why do you think? The whole 'no magic' thing? Wasn't really working out for my bosses. It interfered too much with their business."

"So you used Spike to undo it?" asked Fred. She'd moved even further away from Wesley, and her expression had gone from disappointed to disgusted.

"I knew what he was doing." Wesley finally spoke up. "I had an opportunity to stop him, but I didn't. I�" He looked around at each of them, as if searching for understanding, but then went back to hanging his head.

Lilah sighed. "Leave Wesley out of this. The Senior Partners simply utilized an employee and took advantage of an opportunity that he himself provided. I mean, really, can you blame them?" She turned back to Dawn. "Look, despite all appearances, I really am sorry for your loss."

Dawn looked her up and down, then approached her, smiling sweetly. "Hi, Lilah. I'm Dawn Summers. And you're about to find out what happens to people who screw with my family." With that, she punched her, throwing an impressive left to Lilah's nose.

Lilah grabbed her nose and reeled back, but Wesley caught and steadied her before she could fall.

Dawn rushed forward. "Bitch!" she shrieked. "This is your fault!" Xander caught her around the waist and held her back. She pried at his arm. "Let me go!"

"No, Dawn. Not like this."

Lilah straightened up, shaking Wesley off. She brought her hand away from her nose and saw that she was bleeding. "Hope you enjoyed that, little girl," she said, trying to stanch the flow. "You only get the one."

Dawn tried to lunge at her, but Xander held on.

"All right, that's it!" shouted Angel. "Lilah, get the hell out of my house." He started to turn toward Wesley, but stopped. "No, wait." He pointed at the couch. "Sit and stay. Fred, watch her, don't let her leave. The last thing we need is her out there stirring up more trouble." He stormed past Xander and Dawn. "Wesley, in my office. Now." Without waiting to see if he was being obeyed, he went inside and slammed the door behind him.

Wesley stole a glance at Lilah, then squared his shoulders and followed Angel. He paused in front of Xander and Dawn. "Dawn, I�" He looked at her. "I am so sorry."

She just held up her hands to ward him off. Wesley's shoulders slumped a little, and he slunk into the office. Dawn deflated in Xander's arms, a long, despairing sob ripping out of her as she sunk to the floor. Xander went with her, turning her around and cradling her against his chest. "It's okay, Dawn. It's gonna be okay." He had to believe that was true. But even as he said it, he didn't see how it could be.

***

Angel sat at his desk and waited for Wesley to come in and shut the door. As soon as he was in, he asked, "You want to tell me what Lilah's doing here?" Wesley opened his mouth to answer, but Angel held up a hand and cut him off. "Never mind. I think I can figure it out. How about instead you tell me what you meant when you said you had an opportunity to stop Spike."

"I went to the office on Sunday, to retrieve a book. I ran into Spike and invited him to lunch. He responded by knocking me unconscious."

Angel shrugged. "Doesn't sound to me like you could've--"

"I woke up in my office. With Lilah."

"Oh." Angel picked up a letter opener and began to inspect it. "And?"

With a sigh, Wesley sunk into a chair. "And she told me then what the Senior Partners were planning, and that Spike was there to retrieve spell components from the archive."

"And what did you do?"

"Nothing." Wes slumped a little lower in his chair. "I started to call security to have Spike removed, but I let her talk me out of it."

"Yeah, I'm sure there was a lot of talking involved."

"As a matter of fact." Wesley had the gall to sound indignant. "As I've told you before, I knew what Spike was going through. I couldn't bring myself to interfere with his efforts to save Buffy."

Angel slammed the letter opener down, point first, hard enough to impale the desk. "Don't try to tell me you did it for Spike."

"I'm not." Wesley stared at the letter opener and swallowed. Then he met Angel's eyes. "If magic were released back into the world, I knew that I would be able to see her again."

Angel sighed. "Damn it, Wesley." He pushed himself out of his chair and began to pace. "I expect better of you than thinking with your dick."

"I like to think I was thinking with my heart."

"Yeah, well, start using your head!" Angel leaned over Wesley. "It wasn't just magic that got let back in, it was a vampire. By now we're most likely talking two vampires, and by tomorrow� who knows how many?" He straightened and resumed his pacing. "It's like a virus. In a week, L.A.'s gonna be crawling with them."

"I realize that," Wesley said, in that calm, quiet voice of his.

Angel rounded on him. "Oh, now you realize that? What about the other day, when it wasn't too late to do something about it?!"

Wesley stood up. "Angel, I accept my culpability in all of this, and I'm prepared to accept whatever consequences you see fit. I'll do whatever is necessary to help clean this up. But� do you really believe I could have stopped Spike?"

Sighing, Angel ran a hand through his hair, and shook his head. "No. I don't. But I have to know you're with me, Wes. If you're gonna be all about Lilah, then I can't use you."

"I understand." Wes shoved his hands in his pockets. "I can't deny that I� I care for Lilah. But I'm not blinded to who or what she is. And I'm your best bet for getting her to cooperate."

"You'd better hope that's true," said Angel. "Because if you let yourself get manipulated by her again, or if I find out you're helping her cause in any way�"

"Understood."

"It better be." With that, Angel opened the door. He waited for Wesley to walk out of the office, then exited behind him. The tableau outside was pretty much as they'd left it. Lilah still sat on the couch, sniffing and wiping her nose, with Fred standing by, arms folded, glaring down at her. Dawn huddled against Xander on the floor, Xander still trying desperately to comfort the girl. Angel didn't want to interrupt, but they didn't have time to grieve.

"Okay, people. We have work to d--"

The front door opened, cutting him off. Willow entered, the first rays of morning light spilling in behind her, a hopeful smile on her face. "Hey, guys!" As she looked around, her smile faded. "Where is she? Where's Buffy?"

Angel blew out a weary sigh. It was gonna be a long day.

***

Hungry. God, he was so hungry. But he could control it. Not like he was some poncey fledgling, newly risen.

Oh, right.

Spike woke up laughing, struck hard by the absurdity of it all. He'd have saved them both so much trouble if he'd just turned her way back when. But no, he couldn't tarnish his pristine Slayer like that. Had to have her all good and superior and� and mortal, didn't he?

But she was none of those things now. As he gazed at her, his sleeping Slayer--sire, he found he really didn't care. She'd stretched out beside him on the couch, pressed up against him, their bodies still a perfect fit as she slept in his arms. Just as it should be, as it always would be, now and forevermore.

"Buffy," he breathed, and as he buried his face in her hair he once again boggled at the sentimental idiocy of his mortal self. How the bloody hell could he have said no to this? To her?

As he breathed in her new scent, he caught wind of something else. Sweat. Adrenaline. Fear.

Blood.

He heard a whimper, and raised his head. Waning sunlight filtered through the dojo's high windows and makeshift sunroof, but it was all indirect. He disentangled himself from Buffy and got up, careful not to wake her. The whimpering turned into a sob. Spike followed the sound, and smiled. There, wrists bound to the chain that used to hold the punching bag, hung a girl. A pretty little thing in her late teens� a whore, by the looks of her. Poxy, by the smell of her. He'd have to have a talk with Buffy about being choosier about her food. Still, at the moment, his stomach didn't really care.

The girl squeezed her eyes shut, crying and mewling as he stalked toward her. He felt his face change, and it felt like pulling on a comfortable old tee--shirt. His tongue traced the edges of his fangs in anticipation. She gasped as he moved behind her, and he wondered if she'd scream if he took off her gag. Be fun to hear her scream. Might wake Buffy, though.

She screamed despite the gag as he grabbed her around the waist. He clamped a hand over her mouth as he buried his nose against the pulse point of her artery and breathed in the bouquet. It had been so very long since he'd had a live human, and he was going to savor it. "Oh, yeah," he whispered in the girl's ear, "you're gonna be delicious, Pet. Don't worry, this will only hurt a little."

She began to kick and thrash in his arms, and he hesitated. Not because she struggled, she was too well restrained for that to make a difference. But as he opened his mouth to bite, memories of agonizing pain shot through his head, and� something else. Something he could only identify as a residual bit of squeamish William. Easy enough to shrug off, and he did as he plunged his fangs into the girl's neck. Hot, salty, fear--tinged, human blood squirted into his mouth, filling it faster than he could swallow, and it was truly the nectar of the gods. Pure ambrosia, despite the sickly tinge. The sweet thing continued to struggle for a moment, then went limp, even as he went weak in the knees and had to grab the chain above to hold himself up.

All too soon, she ran dry. Spike threw his head back, savoring the last drops sliding down his throat. His eyes rolled back in his head as her blood coursed through him, filling him, giving him warmth, and strength, and power. God, he'd forgotten how good it was. Food, pleasure beyond sex, and the best drugs all wrapped up in these human packages. Fucking brilliant.

"You ruined my surprise!" Spike opened his eyes and looked over to see Buffy perched on the edge of the sofa, her bottom lip jutting out in a pretty little pout. "I was gonna give you breakfast in bed."

Spike grinned as he prowled toward her. "I can think of about a hundred better things to do with you in bed, Love."

She smiled demurely, looking up at him through her lashes, as he sat beside her. Then she grabbed his neck and leaned in to lick the corner of his mouth. "Mmm," she said. "Can't wait to try 'em all."

"It's been too long," he said, his voice a husky rumble in his chest.

She nodded. "But we have plenty of time to make up for it." With that, she thrust her tongue in his mouth, lapping at the roof, licking his teeth, sucking on his tongue. Tasting him. Tasting the kill. This was a far cry from the girl who used to keep him stocked in breath mints and mouthwash, making him brush his teeth after a mug full of pig's blood before she'd let him kiss her. And yet so much about her was the same.

She pulled away, panting, and he smiled, wondering if she'd picked that up from him. "I'm hungry," she said, and there was that pouty lip again, the one that had always driven him to distraction. He pulled on it with his teeth, then frowned and looked back at the dead girl.

"Sorry, Love. Should've saved you some."

Buffy touched his chin and drew his face back to her. "It's okay. She was all for you. Anyway," she looked up at the darkening windows, "we've got all night to hunt." She grinned. "And anything else you want to do."

Spike matched her grin as he touched his forehead to hers. "We've got more'n that, Baby," he said, nuzzling her nose with his. "We've got forever."

~*~
- 7
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Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

Dead Leaves & the Dirty Ground